Mixed picture emerges in latest New Hampshire jobless data
Initial claims rise slightly while continuing claims edge down
The number of new jobless claims ticked up slightly during the week ending Dec. 12 while continuing claims – filed by people already receiving weekly benefits – ticked slightly down.
According to the latest data released by the U.S. Labor Department, 2,949 initial claims were filed in New Hampshire for the week, 26 more than the original number reported the week before, when the number of initial claims jumped by nearly 50%
As for continuing claims, 20,902 people were collecting benefits during the week ending Dec. 5, 149 fewer than the week before.
The new data was released two days after news of a decline in the New Hampshire’s official unemployment rate based on data from early November. The preliminary seasonally adjusted rate is now 3.8%, a 0.4% drop from October, when it was at 4.2%. In November 2019, the rate was 2.6%. The current rate is way below the national rate of 6.7%, which is pretty good, considering that the state was above the national rate in the spring.
Nationally, initial claims also rose slightly in early December. Some 885,000 new claims were filed, 32,000 more than the previous week. There were a reported 5.5 million continuing claims, down by about 200,000 from the previous week.
